History

Roman

There was a bishop in Eboracum (Roman York) from very early times; during the Middle Ages, it was thought to have been one of the dioceses established by the legendaryKing Lucius. Bishops of York are known to have been present at the councils of Arles (Eborius) and Nicaea (unnamed). However, this early Christian community was later destroyed by the pagan Anglo-Saxons and there is no direct succession from these bishops to the post-Augustinian ones.

Saxon, Viking and Medieval times

The diocese was refounded by Paulinus (a member of Augustine's mission) in the 7th century. Notable among these early bishops is Wilfrid. These early bishops of York acted as diocesan rather than archdiocesan prelates until the time of Ecgbert of York,[a] who received the pallium from Pope Gregory III in 735 and established metropolitan rights in the north. Until the Danish invasion the archbishops of Canterbury occasionally exercised authority, and it was not until the Norman Conquest that the archbishops of York asserted their complete independence.

At the time of the Norman invasion York had jurisdiction over Worcester, Lichfield, and Lincoln, as well as the dioceses in the Northern Isles and Scotland. But the first three sees just mentioned were taken from York in 1072. In 1154 the suffragan sees of the Isle of Man and Orkney were transferred to the Norwegian archbishop of Nidaros (today's Trondheim), and in 1188 all the Scottish dioceses except Whithorn were released from subjection to York, so that only the dioceses of Whithorn, Durham, and Carlisle remained to the archbishops as suffragan sees. Of these, Durham was practically independent, for the palatine bishops of that see were little short of sovereigns in their own jurisdiction. Sodor and Man were returned to York during the 14th century, to compensate for the loss of Whithorn to the Scottish Church.

English Reformation

At the time of the English Reformation, York possessed three suffragan sees, Durham, Carlisle and Sodor and Man, to which during the brief space of Queen Mary I's reign (1553–1558) may be added the Diocese of Chester, founded by Henry VIII, but subsequently recognised by the Pope.

Until the mid 1530s (and from 1553-1558) the bishops and archbishops were in communion with the pope in Rome. This is no longer the case, as the Archbishop of York, together with the rest of the Church of England, is a member of the Anglican Communion.

Present

The Archbishop of York is the metropolitan bishop of the Province of York and is the junior of the two archbishops of the Church of England after the Archbishop of Canterbury.[3] Since 5 October 2005, the incumbent is the Most Reverend John Sentamu who is also an ex officio member of the House of Lords.

Footnotes

^Paulinus was appointed Archbishop of York by Pope Honorius I in 634, but the appointment was not effective since it occurred after Paulinus had fled from York and become Bishop of Rochester.[2]

^ Although Wilfrid established a monastic community in Selsey, there are no early sources that describe him as bishop of the South Saxons. Wilfrid is credited with being first bishop of the South Saxons, by William of Malmesbury and Florence of Worcester, also on some later Ecclesiastical lists, but he was still technically Bishop of York when in charge of Selsey Abbey. Therefore, as Sussex had been annexed by Wessex then Selsey probably would have been subject to the Diocese of the West Saxons, when Wilfrid was there.[5]

^The second edition of the Handbook of British Chronology listed Æthelric to have been archbishop of York from 1041 to 1042,[6] but in the third edition he is no longer listed to have been archbishop.[7]

Foot, Sarah (2011). Foster, Paul; Moriarty, Rachel, eds. The Bishops of Selsey and the creation of a Diocese in Sussex. Chichester - The Palace and its Bishops. Otter memorial Paper. 27. Chichester: University of Chichester. ISBN978-1-907852-03-9.

Further reading

Story, Joanna (August 2012). "Bede, Willibrord and the Letters of Pope Honorius I on the Genesis of the Archbishopric of York". English Historical Review. cxxvii (527): 783–818. doi:10.1093/ehr/ces142.